350 Bay Area Action is calling for a NO vote on California’s Proposition 6

350 Bay Area is joining with hundreds  of other environmental, labor, social justice and public interest groups to urge a No vote on Proposition 6. Organizations like ours and the Environmental Health Coalition, CA League of Conservation Voters, Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra Club of California oppose the proposition because it eliminates funding for transit, pedestrian and bicycle projects. This puts more than 450 public transit projects at risk, projects already started that would expand light rail and bus service in underserved areas. Programs to support safe bike paths and pedestrian infrastructure would be eliminated. Yet, if California is to meet its climate goals, we must expand our public and active transit options.

These active transportation projects improve air quality, promote public health, help to meet our climate goals, and reduce congestion, all of which  would be undermined by Proposition 6.

Proposition 6 is a public safety hazard, eliminating funding for bridges and road improvements. California needs the funds to improve structural deficiencies in over 1,600 bridges and overpasses that are rated as in poor or at-risk condition, that need to be upgraded to meet earthquake safety standards.

Supporters of Prop 6 are attempting to repeal the gas tax increase passed  by a two-thirds vote in 2017: California Senate Bill 1. SB 1 provided an increase in revenue in line with the level it was in 1994, the last time the gas taxes were increased. This additional revenue is urgently needed in California to address a significant backlog in road and bridge improvements, and in public transit maintenance and expansion. Many of these projects are needed to ensure safety on our roads. Conservative and Republican groups are lining up with the “no taxes for anything” crowd to use Prop 6 as way to get them to the polls in the next election. In the process, they are ensuring more accidents, more pollution, and worse climate change.

Join 350 Bay Area Action in voting No on Proposition 6.

Dan Monte is endorsed by 350 Bay Area Action for California’s State Assembly District 10

October 2018 – 350 Bay Area Action proudly endorses Dan Monte for Assembly District 10. Dan recognizes climate change as the most urgent issue of our time and is committed to fighting for bold climate action, such as a ban on fracking, a halt on all new oil and gas development, and a tax on carbon. With the new report out from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it could not be more clear that we must do all within our power to immediately and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and begin a just and equitable transition to 100% renewable energy and a decarbonized economy. Dan Monte is the only candidate in the race for Assembly District 10 who has pledged never to take money from the fossil fuel industry, choosing instead to prioritize the health of our communities, our democracy, and our planet.

Dan is fighting for a bold progressive agenda that works for all Californians. He believes that healthcare is a human right and supports guaranteed healthcare for all through a single-payer system. He understands that public education is a public good and therefore must be fully and fairly funded, including tuition-free college. He knows there is a housing crisis in California and would work for affordable housing and rent control. And critically, Dan would fight to end the corrupting influence of big money in politics by pushing for publicly funded elections, not pay-to-play elections.

Dan will be free to work for the people and the planet because—unlike his opponent—he has pledged not to take corporate money. He is running a remarkable people-powered campaign that we are excited to endorse. We hope that you join us in supporting Dan Monte for State Assembly.

Kevin de León is endorsed by 350 Bay Area Action for California’s Senator in 2018

May 2018 – “If we’re serious about reducing climate-warming emissions quickly enough to preserve our life-sustaining systems — and we are — then we have to start voting on climate. Kevin de León has been a climate leader in California and will bring that to Washington DC, ” said Laura Neish, Executive Director of 350 Bay Area Action. The regional climate organization endorsed former California Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León for U.S. Senate.

De León has refused to take money from Big Oil for his campaign. He is getting his support from the people of California rather than fossil fuel corporations. “When you have a politician stand up to Big Oil lobbyists, calling them out on their lies, and fighting against man-made climate change, the most serious challenge facing our country and the planet, as he has with precedent-setting legislation, you just have to stand up for a leader like that,” said Ken Jones, 350 Bay Area Action Steering Committee member.

De León has led the way on progressive climate legislation in the California Senate. He authored SB 100 which calls for California to get 100 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2045. SB 100 has passed the State Senate and is currently being considered in the Assembly. In 2015, de León authored and got passed SB 350, requiring California to get 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, and SB 185, requiring California’s two giant pension funds, CalSTRS and CalPERS, to divest from companies that get their revenue from the mining of thermal coal.

Contact: Rand Wrobel      Phone:  510 914-2349      Email:  Rand@350BayAreaAction.org

Jovanka Beckles is endorsed by 350 Bay Area Action for Assembly District 15 in Sacramento

September 2018 – 350 Bay Area Action is pleased to join with seven local and statewide environmental action organizations in endorsing Jovanka Beckles to represent Assembly District 15 in Sacramento.

350 Bay Area Action was one of Beckles’ first endorsing organizations in 2014, when she and her running mates defeated Chevron’s hand-picked candidates for the Richmond City Council. The race drew national attention for the amount Chevron spent—over three million dollars—trying to defeat them.

Assembly District 15, one of the most progressive in California, encompasses East Bay towns from Hercules to North Oakland, Piedmont and Montclair. Home to one of the Bay Area’s five refineries and two ports, it is not without its environmental challenges. Beckles is presently supporting the efforts of local environmental justice advocates in several campaigns

• preventing heavy crude oil refinery expansion projects that would result in a threefold increase in oil tanker traffic in the San Francisco Bay and add significantly to our frontline communities’ already unacceptable level of toxic air pollution;
• keeping a planned coal export terminal out of Oakland;
• shutting down a coal and petcoke export terminal in Richmond; and
• securing a comprehensive, thorough remediation of the extensively polluted Zeneca site on Richmond’s Southeast Shoreline next to the Bay Trail.

Beckles is running corporate-free, as she has in all her previous campaigns. “Billionaires and corporations buy elections to maintain their own power, sabotaging working people’s interests. That is why I have never taken contributions from corporations or billionaires, and never will,” Beckles said. For this reason she invites the environmental activist community that was so instrumental to her 2014 victory to door-knock and phonebank with her campaign.

A children’s mental health professional with close to eight years’ experience on the Richmond City Council, Beckles is backed by Our Revolution, the national network of local progressive groups that grew out of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. She also has won endorsements from the Sierra Club, California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA)  Action, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) Action, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) Action, California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), and Sunflower Alliance.

For complete list of her endorsements—which includes more than 50 national, state, and regional unions, political action organizations, student organizations, and political parties—and to volunteer in her campaign, visit her website at www.jovanka.org

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan is endorsed by 350 Bay Area Action for Assembly District 16

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 14 – 350 Bay Area Action is pleased to endorse Rebecca Bauer-Kahan for Assembly District 16. Bauer-Kahan is running to replace incumbent Catharine Baker, the only Republican state legislator in the nine county Bay Area.“Rebecca is passionate about climate change, which is one of her top issues,” said Judy Pope, a leader with 350 Bay Area Action. “Too many crucial climate bills are being held up or weakened in the state Assembly. The election of Rebecca Bauer-Kahan would insure one more legislative leader for the climate and climate justice.”

350 Bay Area Action has only rarely taken a stance on individual campaigns. This campaign cycle is critical to the effort to promote aggressive state level action on climate. By endorsing Bauer-Kahan, 350 Bay Area Action emphasizes the need to start voting on climate issues, and will help bring climate activist volunteers to her campaign, energizing climate volunteers in District 16.

Bauer-Kahan acknowledges that she can’t match her opponent’s ability to raise money, and will need volunteers to help with the door to door effort to raise awareness about her candidacy, positions and qualifications.

Bauer-Kahan is an attorney who works with businesses on compliance with environmental regulations. She says she decided to run when she found the news coming from Washington DC depressing. 350 Bay Area Action agrees that the antidote to despair is action, and local action makes a difference, especially in California, which leads on environmental and climate action.

Bauer-Kahan strongly supports SB 100, proposed legislation to require 100% Clean Energy in CA. Bauer-Kahan emphasizes the need for California to transition to green energy: a key question is how fast it happens, and she believes with 350 Bay Area Action that time is of the essence, so she supports a fast and just transition to clean energy. She also calls for improved public transit and support for biking and walking.

Bauer-Kahan is also endorsed by the Sierra Club, California Democratic Party, California Labor Federation,California Women’s List, Consumer Attorneys of California, Contra Costa County Building and Construction Trades Council, and EMILY’s List.

AD 16 includes the towns of Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Orinda, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Danville and Moraga.

350 Bay Area Action is a 501(c)4 political action group supporting climate legislation and candidates in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. We support policies to reduce climate warming and particulate pollution, by stopping fossil fuel expansion projects, promoting a just and swift transition to 100% clean energy, and supporting policies to power our activities with clean energy.

Contact:  Rand Wrobel       Phone: 510 914-2349       Email: Rand@350BayAreaAction.org